Metric Idea: Contributor Payment Dynamic

[Nebrethar]

We originally talked about this in #381.

All credit for this idea goes to @emmairwin, and then @germonprez to make an issue, and then @GeorgLink to propose making it a metric! I am only the delivery service 😁

I'm also interested in making this into a metric. I'm not sure what it would look like in detail. Let's have a discussion about it! 🎉

[emmairwin]

'payment' is also interesting wording/
You can be paid

• as an employee of a company who released and maintainers an OSS project
• by the maintainer of a project, who obtained those funds through something like GitHub sponsors (but themselves are not yet paid).
• as a sponsored maintainer
• through a program like Outreachy
• not paid but paying for a specific educational opportunity like (part of a degree program)... and so there is value attached still.
• hobbiest/tinkerer who literally doesn't think about payment but enjoys the experience.
• Through grants/fellowships.

So if we think about this in the context of diversity, do we actually care how people experience value (financial or otherwise)? Or is it more about enforcing a certain level of 'outside experience and perspective that isn't incentivized purely by payment of the primary company/org?

(if that question makes sense) just starting with some thoughts.

[Nebrethar]

I think the context of a user's involvement in a project is really the heart of what we could measure, and it seems that you are getting that too. I will think about this one over the weekend and have more to say afterward 😜

[GeorgLink]

On this note, I'm reminded about how Drupal is capturing contributor's engagement:

https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/327138#proposal

[emmairwin]

totally - I love the Drupal credits system, and that;s great to see our friends at GitLab thinking of this too.
I think this type of functionality is complementary in that it helps projects recognize contributors, but also better understand their ecosystems and make informed decisions.

This conversation came from diversity wg, but I don't think it really belongs there as it is more about the ecosystem ?

[emmairwin]

Her are the ways I would break it up:

• If someone is contributing on behalf on an employer on paid time.
• If someone is contributing on behalf of a customer on paid time.
• If someone's time has been sponsored (i.e GitHub sponsors, Open Collective)
• If someone's time is associated with iternship including Outreachy
• If someone is contributing on their own time.
• If someone is contributing on their own time, but any of the others have been true at some point. For example - someone has been paid to contribute by their employer, but stuck around to be more involved on their own time.

[GeorgLink]

This is a great list. Thanks Emma.

Do we have a google doc for drafting this metric?

[ElizabethN]

We are cleaning up some of these metric ideas and moving them to the central spreadsheet for further tracking. Thanks everyone!